''Rizal:'' ''Philippine Nationalist and Martyr'' is a
biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
of
José Rizal
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...
written by British author
Austin Coates
Austin Coates (1922–1997) was a British civil servant, writer and traveller. He was the son of noted English composer Eric Coates.
Austin Coates wrote extensively on topics related to the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Hong Kong and Macau. ...
. The book was published by the
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in 1968.
Description
Coates's ''Rizal Philippine Nationalist and Martyr'' is the second biographical account of the life and career of Rizal authored by a non-Filipino (the first was ''
Vida y Escritos del Dr. José Rizal'' or "Life and Writings of Dr. José Rizal" written by W.E. Retana that was published in 1907, thus Coates's book on Rizal was the first European biography of Rizal since that year).
[Rizaliana]
, lopez-museum.org The first-edition copies of the hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...
version of the book were bound in green color, only three of which has José Rizal's monogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...
stamped on the book cover
A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older f ...
. One is the file copy at the Oxford University Press. Another copy is owned by Coates himself. The third copy was given as a present to former Philippine President
The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
. Softcover
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...
reprint
A reprint is a re-publication of material that has already been previously published. The term ''reprint'' is used with slightly different meanings in several fields.
Academic publishing
In academic publishing, offprints, sometimes also known a ...
s were also available.[Ocampo, Ambeth]
"Trash and Treasure in the Gallery"
Looking Back, Money/Inquirer Features, Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 1, 2009, business.inquirer.net
Coates's book is considered as one of the "very best biographies" on the Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
national hero. Coates emphatically explained that Rizal was the "very first exponent
Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as , involving two numbers, the '' base'' and the ''exponent'' or ''power'' , and pronounced as " (raised) to the (power of) ". When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to re ...
" of nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
in Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
.[Roces, Alejandro R]
Rizal's Death Anniversary
Roses & Thorns, Opinion, The Philippine Star, December 29, 2009, philstar.com
Translation of Rizal’s "''Mi Último Adiós''" poem
In the book, Coates has a translation
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
of Rizal's poem written in the Spanish-language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
retroactively titled "'' Mi Último Adiós''", translated by scholars into the English as "My Last Farewell
My or MY may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station
* Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe
* ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak
* ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon
Business
* Mar ...
". Although not explored enough, it sheds light on Rizal's "final statement," "state of mind," and "intimate view" of the Philippine Revolution before his death by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
. Floro Quibuyen discussed and compared Coates's translation of the poem's second stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
to the translation into English made by Nick Joaquín and into the first Tagalog version made by Andrés Bonifacio
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (, ; November 30, 1863May 10, 1897) was a Filipino Freemason and revolutionary leader. He is often called "The Father of the Philippine Revolution", and considered one of the national heroes of the Philippines ...
, with emphasis on the phrase in the second line that says "''sin dudas sin pesar''". According to Quibuyen, the second stanza of the poem captured Rizal's connection between personal martyrdom
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
and the Philippine Revolution.[
The original Spanish is written by Rizal as:
:''En campos se batalla, lunchando con delirio''
:''Otros te dan sus vidas sin dudas, sin pesar''
:''El sitio nada importa, cipres, laurel o lirio,''
:''Cadalso o campo abierto, combate o cruel martirio,''
:''Lo mismo es si lo piden la Patria y el hogar.''][
Coates translated the stanza as:
:Others are giving you their lives on fields of battle,
:Fighting joyfully, without hesitation or thought for the consequence,
:How it takes place is not important.
:Cypress, laurel or lily,
:Scaffold or battlefield, in combat or cruel martyrdom,
:It is the same when what is asked of you is for your country and your home][
Quibuyen Coates's translation of "''sin dudas sin pesar''" which says "without hesitation or thought for the consequence." Compared to Joaquin's translation that says "without doubts, without gloom", Quibuyen revealed and described that Coates's interpretation is not only misleading and less closer to Rizal's Spanish original but is a "twist in translation" and not a "innocent stylistic transcription" that enabled Coates to insert his personal estimation about Rizal's ambivalent position towards Philippine Revolution. According to Coates, the second stanza (based on a 1977 lecture by Coates about the poem during a celebration of ]Rizal Day
Rizal Day (, ; ) is a Philippine national holiday commemorating life and works of José Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines. It is celebrated every December 30, the anniversary of Rizal's 1896 execution at Bagumbayan (present-day Rizal P ...
) that "a war (...) is going on. izalis nvolvedor onnectedto it. izaladmires those who are fighting, but izaldoes not entirely agree with what" was being done. Compared to Bonifacio's Tagalog version, "''sin dudas,sin pesar''" became "''walang agam-agam, maluwag sa dibdib''" with the addition of the phrase "''matamis sa puso at di-ikahapis''" that is not available in the versions of Coates, Joaquin, and Rizal's original. In effect, Bonifacio's version of Rizal's poem became "more joyously affirmative". "''Walang agam-agam''" is equal to Joaquin's "without doubts". However, the phrase "''maluwag sa dibdib''" is beyond Joaquin's "without gloom" because it encompasses "whole-hearted acceptance" without qualms or worries.[
Quibuyen also compared Coates's translation of the third, fourth, and fifth lines of the second stanza of Rizal's final poem to Joaquin's English version and Bonifacio's Tagalog version. Coates's translated ''El sitio nada importa, cipres, laurel o lirio, / Cadalso o campo abierto, combate o cruel martirio, / Lo mismo es si lo piden la Patria y el hogar'' as ''How it takes place is not important. / Cypress, laurel or lily, / Scaffold or battlefield, in combat or cruel martyrdom, / It is the same when what is asked of you is for your country and your home /''.][Rizal and the Revolution]
opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu[Quibuyen, Floro]
Rizal and the Revolution
pages 6 to 10
References
External links
*Yoder, Robert L
from "Introduction" Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr by Austin Coates, The Life and Writings of Dr. José Rizal
*Lietz, Paul S
Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr by Austin Coates
{{doi, 10.2307/1842030
1968 non-fiction books
Biographical books
Biographies about writers
José Rizal